SPRING BOOK HAUL | MAY 2021

Throughout the past lockdown in the UK, there has been one thing that I have been dying to do. Go to a bookshop. The little crooks and crannies of your local bookshop, and the feel of a new, sturdy novel is never quite the same if you buy online. You want to feel and delve in to the world with its words at your fingertips. Now, my Undergraduate degree is coming to a close and the shops opening again, book-shopping has become a luxury. I couldn't pass up the chance to get a few books after three months of isolation and dreariness. 

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende 

I've read multiple novels by Allende in the past few months and fell in love with her writing style. Her writing takes you in to a world of others, creating empathy and understanding to the characters personal issues and situation. Most of her novels take place in Latin America, or have some connection to the the Latin culture. Not to mention that even if I didn't enjoy her novels, or had never read them; the cover itself is enough to make me want to indulge in its contents. The novel is set upon the life of Victor Dalmau, who becomes exiled from his native home in Spain. He boards a ship to Chile, where history becomes rooted and memories are deposited over four generations of love and tragedy. My love for historical fiction creates more than imagination in to reading, you collect the understanding and historical context of that time. You become enriched in the life of those you read about. 

A View Across the Rooftops by Susanne Kelman 

I picked this one up purely because its another historical fiction novel. It's set in 1941 Nazi- occupied Amsterdam, focusing on the life of Professor Josef Held and his pupil Michael Blum. Michael is a Jew, and as Amsterdam becomes more dangerous by the hour, he is anxious on what his next move will be. Josef offers him a place to stay.  Josef's respectable place in society as a Professor hides his danger and actions behind closed doors. The novel from what I can see is based on betrayal, loss and tragedy in a time where your identity was the only significant thing about you, and it could result in freedom or death. 

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood 

After reading The Handmaid's Tale a few times, I've always been meaning to read more of Atwood's work. Her writing is so impactful, it really changes the way that you think and perceive actions. The Blind Assassin is quite a chunky book with 540 odds pages. It won the Man Booker Prize in 2000 which is good indicator to the wonderful nature of this book. This of course, has another essence of historical fiction within its parameters. It centres on the main protagonist of Iris Chase, and her life after her younger sister, Laura 'drove a car off a bridge ten days after the war ended'. Iris flashes back on her life, and the twists and turns of her younger life, from love affairs to catastrophe. The historical nature of the book positions itself within a time of change both socially and politically. 

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

I've heard A LOT of praise for this novel, and it stands out at 730 odd pages. The frequent response to this novel has been a lot of tears and heartbreak. It draws you in and allows you to really create some understanding with the characters. That's what is most important. The text centres on 4 characters; JB, Malcolm, Willem and Jude, and their friendship over the decades. But the novel also centres on how Jude becomes a 'broken' man and his downfall in middle age. The trauma and heartbreak that comes with growing up and becoming more wise to adulthood is presented in Jude, and its how all the characters become aware of him and his conscious suffering. I'm really looking forward to delving in to the world of this novel, it may cause some tears but I predict it will become one of my favourite reads. 

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert 

I'm currently reading this one. What lead me to purchase the novel was the setting of 1940s New York City. In the midst of World War II, and at the height of protagonist Vivian's youth it sounds glamourous but life-changing in the fear of Nazi regimes over the pond in Europe. So far, I can most definitely muster the sense of the 'City of Girls' in the novel. Vivian moves to New York to live with her Aunt Peg who owns the Lily Playhouse. Suddenly, Vivian is surrounded by the characters of showbusiness and is most definitely intrigued by the beauty of the girls, especially Celia. Gilbert lets you in to the coming of age narrative of Vivian as she explores sex for the first time, the attitudes of lustful men in the 1940s and the care-free aura of the showgirls at the Lily Playhouse. It's the transformation of Vivian as a girl that is a let-down to her parents and the boarding school she attended before being shipping to her new world, New York City. 

What are your recommendations for May? 

Happy Reading, 

Rose x